(Mon 2/28/11) - Douglas City
Employees will get a new pay structure this summer...
After about 20 minutes' discussion, the Douglas
City Council tonight voted unanimously to adopt the
recommendations of an in-house wage and salary survey
performed over the past several months by city staff. The
survey compared Douglas's city pay structure with several
other similar communities across Wyoming. Councilman Tony
Reynolds explained that there are some positions that would
see a drop in pay grades, and some would increase... audio
here

Reynolds said that
the survey recommended that no employee's wages would be cut
as a result of the adoption of the new pay structure... audio
here

New
performance-based step pay increases and Employee Performance
Benefits programs would replace the city's current merit pay
increase system. Modifications to the City of Douglas Wage
Scale will go into effect on July 1st.

(Mon
2/28/11) - New energy action in east-central Wyoming... An
Australian company has bought three local oil fields. Linc Energy says it
bought the Big Muddy, South Glenrock and South Cole Creek oil
fields located in Converse and Natrona counties. The company
is a leader in underground coal gasification technology. It
has coal leases in Australia, Wyoming, North Dakota and
Montana. The company plans to burn coal underground that is
too deep to mine and to produce synthesis gas. That process
will produce CO2, which the company wants to use for enhanced
oil recovery. The company has more than 165,600 acres of coal
leases in the Powder River Basin, much of it in Campbell
County. It is working on permitting its first underground
coal gasification operation in the region.

(Fri
2/4/11) - A settlement with the Wyoming Department of Revenue
will result in Duke
Energy paying lower property taxes on
its Wyoming wind farms. Duke will pay about $230,000
less in property taxes than was originally assessed for 2009.
The biggest change involves Duke's wind farms here in
Converse County. The company argued it should not have been
taxed for wind turbines not yet installed. State officials
say Duke indicated on its tax returns that the turbines were
in place. The agreement means Duke will pay about $230,000
less in property taxes than was originally assessed for 2009.
After the settlement, Duke will pay $2.54 million to cover
last year's tax bill instead of the $2.77 million originally
assessed.

(Wed
2/2/11) - A House committee has endorsed legislation that
would extend a moratorium on non-utility companies' ability
to use eminent domain for building collector lines to wind
farms. Lawmakers last year imposed a one-year
moratorium that ends July 1. The bill approved Tuesday by the
House Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources
Committee would extend the moratorium for another two years
to 2013. The bill now goes to the full House for debate. The
bill's main sponsor is Republican Rep. Kermit Brown of
Laramie. Brown says the extension is necessary after two
bills that attempted to deal with eminent domain and
collector lines failed in another committee. Opponents said
the proposal sends a bad signal to wind developers who might
be considering major investment in Wyoming.

(Wed
2/2/11) - Converse County continues to show low unemployment
rates. December numbers just released by the Wyoming
Department of Employment show Converse and Campbell Counties
at 4.8 percent unemployment, tied for the third lowest rate
in the state. Only Sublette and Albany Counties were lower.
December's 4.8 percent unemployment was a bit lower than
November's 4.9 percent, and down considerably from 6.9
percent in December 2009. While the number not working was
down, the number who held jobs and drew paychecks was up.
Employment numbers in the county in December were at 7,173,
up over 300 paychecks from 6,871 in December '09.

And in
Sports...

(Mon 2/28/11)
- Glenrock's in... the Herders punched their ticket to
the 3A East Regional Basketball Tournament tonight with a 54-43
win over Cheyenne South. With nine teams in 3A East this year,
the #8 Herders and the #9 Bison had to go to a play-in game to
qualify for the final slot in the brackets.

(Mon 2/28/11)
- In the opening round of the #A East Basketball Tournament
Thursday at Wheatland, the Lady Herders play Torrington
at 8:30am, the Douglas Bearcats play Rawlins at 4:30, the
LadyCats meet Newcastle at 6, and the Herders play Torrington at
7:30. All Converse County games... Douglas and Glenrock, boys and
girls, will be broadcast throughout the tournament live on KKTY's
99.3FM and on the internet at kktyonline.com..

(Sun 2/27/11)
- DHS basketball teams end the season with a split on the road...
Saturday afternoon at Buffalo, the LadyCats earned a 10-point win
in a defensive battle as they beat the Lady Bison 43-33. DHS
senior Lindsay White led all shooters with 17 points... she was
the only LadyCat in double figures. The second game of the
doubleheader went to Buffalo, as the Bison beat the Bearcats
69-52. A third quarter scoring drought put the Cats in the hole,
but Douglas played well in the second meeting between the two
teams this season. Hayden Barker and Grady Corbett each scored 13
for the Bearcats. Kasey Esponda turned in 25 points for the
Bison, one of three Buffalo players to break in to
double-figures. The LadyCats end their season 22-2, and 16-0 in
3A East conference play, and will take the #1 seed as 3A East
tournament play begins Thursday in Wheatland. The Bearcats end
the season 12-12 and 9-7... they'll likely be the #5 seed and
will likely meet Rawlins in the opening round.

The Glenrock Herders
will have to play one more game to earn a slot at Regionals. With
9 teams in 3A East this season, #8 Glenrock will meet #9 Cheyenne
South in a play-in game tonight to decide which team goes to
post-season play. The two teams split during the regular
season... the Glenrock beat South 58-45 in January, and the Bison
turned around and beat the Herders 69-59 three weeks ago.

The Lady Herders look
to be the #6 seed in the 3A Girls brackets.

(Sun 2/27/11)
- The Kaycee Buckaroos took home the big hardware from
this weekend's 1A East Regional basketball tournament here at
Douglas. Kaycee beat Midwest 62-44 to win the boy's championship,
and it was Kaycee over Guernsey-Sunrise 45-39 in the girls title
game. The Upton Bobcats beat Guernsey-Sunrise 36-31 in the boys
thiurd place game, and Upton beat Chugwater 57-42 in the girls
3rd place game. The 1A-2A State Basketball tournament opens on
Thursday at Casper.

(Sun 2/27/11) - Cats Matmen take
Silver... at the WHSAA State Wrestling
Tournament at Casper this weekend, the 3A East Regional
champion Bearcats capped a strong season with a second
place finish. Bearcats head coach Bob Bath said he was
proud of the way his kids finished the weekend... audio
here

Worland won the team title
with 255 team points, Douglas was second with 230.5, and
Powell was third with 223.5. Glenrock finished 12th out
of 17 teams. Douglas wrestlers brought home 4 gold
medals... championship wins by Reed Burgener at 140,
Tanner Miller at 145, Trent Boner at 189 and Joe Lake at
215. Silver medals for Lane Read at 152 and Tim Harris at
171... Glenrock's Troy Pinkerton placed second at 215,
and Tyler VanAntwerp finished third at 189. Complete
State Wrestling results are available here.

(Sun 2/27/11)
- The Lander Valley Tigers dominated the pool and took home
another 3A State Championship... At Saturday's State
Finals in Gillette, Lander scored 322.5 team points to take the
title, Buffalo was second with 277 and Lyman was third with
152.5. The Douglas Bearcats were 5th out of 12 teams. One gold
medal for a Douglas swimmer... DHS junior Tylor Weiss timed a
54.96 to win the 100 butterfly. Complete state swim results here.

(Sat 2/19/11)
- Cats score a season high... the Douglas Bearcats
raised the bar tonight as they beat Glenrock 87-40, passing the
previous high of 76 points scored against Thermopolis. Grady
Corbett, who averages 7 points a game, knocked down 23 points to
lead all scorers. Also in double-figures for Douglas, Hayden
Barker hit 15, all in the first half... Dylan Davidson shot 12,
and Gary Bolinger had 10. Tyler Kelly led Glenrock with 15. In
the early game, Molly Kreycik hit four 3's on her way to 19
points to lead the LadyCats to a 57-22 win over Glenrock. The
Bearcats improved their record to 12-11, 9-6... the LadyCats are
now 21-2, 15-0. Glenrock falls to 4-19, 2-12, and the Lady
Herders are 6-8, 10-12. Douglas has one game left in regular
season play... the Cats and LadyCats travel to Buffalo on
Saturday, February 26th.

(Sat 2/19/11)
- Douglas wrestlers finish big at Regionals... the
Bearcats scored 253 team points to dominate the 3A East Regional
Wrestling Tournament at Glenrock this weekend. Torrington was
more than 70 points behind, with 179.5 points... Wheatland
finished third with 137... Glenrock finished 7th out of 9 teams.
The Bearcats brought home 5 gold medals... Reed Burgener at 140,
Tanner Miller at 145, Lane Read at 152, Trent Boner at 189 and
Joe Lake at 215. Silver medals for Jordan Pingery at 103, Raymond
Geho at 119, Zak Owens at 160 and Tim Harris at 171. Blake
Sanderson finished third at 130, and Cody Estes was 4th at 125.
For Glenrock, Tyler VanAntwerp placed second at 189 and Troy
Pinkerton finished second at 215. Matt Widiker was third at 145,
and Jordan McClintick was fourth at 103. At the 2A East Regionals
aat Upton, Wright placed first in the team standings, followed by
Lingle/Ft Laramie, and the Lusk Tigers finishe third. Gillette
dominated the 4A East Regionals at Cheyenne East. Star Valley,
Worland and Cokeville won the West Regionals. State wrestling is
Friday and Saturday at the Casper Events Center.

(Sat 2/12/11) - Bearcats &
LadyCats sweep the weekend... Friday night,
Douglas high school's basketball teams took a pair from
the Thermopolis Bobcats. Kassidy Scott led all shooters
with 18 points and the girls won their game 59-26. Hayden
Barker blasted 15 points in the first quarter to set the
tone for the boys game. Barker ended the night tying his
season-best 26 points and the Bearcats beat the Bobcats
65-48. Saturday night at the Rec, the LadyCats took an
easy 66-30 win over the Newcastle Lady Dogies. The
Bearcats had a much tougher fight against the Newcastle
Dogies, who won the first match of the season 56-54 in
overtime. The Bearcats trailed by 1 after the first
quarter, 4 at the half and 3 after three. Douglas found
their offensive momentum in the 4th quarter and outshot
Newcastle 17-6 to take a 45-37 win. Hayden Barker led
Douglas scoring with 14 points... two baskets and 10 of
13 from the free-throw line. Mitch Weigel led Newcastle
with 15 points. Jeremy Beehler averages 18 points a game,
and hit for 27 against Douglas in January... the Bearcats
defense held Beehler to just four points tonight, one
bucket and two points from the free-throw line. The
LadyCats stretch the win streak to 19 games... the girls
are now 19-2, and 13-0 in 3A East conference play. The
Bearcats end the weekend 11-10, 8-5. Douglas meets
Wheatland again this Thursday night... the girls are at
home, and the boys are on the road. Our play-by-play
coverage from the DawgHouse begins a little before 7 on
KKTY's 99.3FM and on the internet at kktyonline.com.

(Mon 2/7/11) -
Help Wanted... Wyoming has fired head men's basketball
coach Heath Schroyer. Schroyer compiled a 49-68 record over the
three and a half seasons he was coach. His best season was
2008-09 when the team went 19-14. The Cowboys are 8-15 this
season, including 1-8 in the Mountain West Conference. He took
over the UW program in 2007 after previous coach Steve McClain
was also fired. UW athletics director Tom Burman says associate
head coach Fred Langley will serve as interim head coach for the
rest of the season. Burman says he regrets the firing but felt it
is in the program's best interest. Burman noted that while
winning is key to a successful program, Schroyer did improve the
team's academic performance. Schroyer says he's disappointed but
enjoyed his tenure as head coach.

(Mon 2/7/11) -
Easy wins for the Cats and LadyCats... at Cheyenne South
Saturday evening, the LadyCats won the early game 74-22, and the
Bearcats won the nitecap 73-35. The LadyCats come out of the
weekend 17-2, 11-0 in conference play. The Bearcats are now 9-10,
6-5 in 3A East conference play. Douglas basketball travels to
Thermopolis Friday.

(Mon 2/7/11) -
Campbell County High School ran away with the team title
at this weekend's Ron Thon Memorial Wrestling Tournament at
Riverton, and the Douglas Bearcats claimed 9th in the 37-team
event. Trent Boner won 189, in triple overtime, Tanner Miller got
2nd at 145, Joe Lake placed 5th at 215 and Taylor Lisco got 5th
at 285. This week's Bearcats Wrestling cooler sponsors are Arrow
Electric, Hamans and Igo Oilfield Service.

(Fri 2/4/11) -
The Douglas girls and the Torrington boys dominated Thursday
night basketball play at the Douglas Rec Center Gym. In
the early game last night, Kassidy Scott shot 18 points, Carlie
Cecil had 13 and Kate Kreycik scored 10 as the LadyCats cruised
past the Lady Blazers 56-37. The Douglas girls stretch their win
streak to 16 games, and are a perfect 10-0 in conference play. In
the nightcap, the Bearcats struggled to keep up with a tall, fast
Trailblazer squad. EJ Zimmerman, who did not play the first time
these two teams played, led all shooters with 24 points. Luke
Eddington shot 15, and 6-4 junior Jason McMannamen scored 14. The
Blazers beat the Bearcats 60-45, and Douglas falls to 8-10, 5-5.

(Fri 2/4/11) -
Bearcats rule the pool... at the Douglas Rec Center Pool
this afternoon, Bearcats swimmers won a triangular meet... the
Cats earned 112 points to beat Cheyenne South (109) and Newcastle
(50). Several Douglas swimmers turned in state qualifying
times... Tyler Wilson and Quentin McGuire placed 1st and 2nd in
the 200 free, Tylor Weiss won the 200 medley and the 100
butterfly, Matt Curley and Quentin McGuire finished 1-2 in the
400 free, Tyler Wilson won the 100 backstroke, and Matt Curley
won the 100 breaststroke. Douglas teams won the 200 and the 400
free relays. Bearcats swimmers are at Gillette on Saturday.